Well, we're back from Savannah, and I have to say that it is truly a marvelous city.  For those of you who don't know, the city is laid out as a grid, with each section of the grid built around a square of green space.  Most of the squares have a statue or a fountain or a monument at their center, and all of them are filled with magnificent Live ( Read more... )

First day of my post book vacation.  My older daughter is on break from school and Nancy started her break today, too.  Daughter number two is the only one of us not on vacation yet.  Poor kid ( Read more... )

There's a Great Horned Owl nest near our house.  You have to walk a short distance to see it -- maybe half a mile.  But then you look into an expanse of forest, find the great mass of branches and such in the fork of a large, straight oak tree, and there's the female, her head visible above the edge of the nest, her tufts -- the so-called horns -- ( Read more... )

Following up on my promise to myself to get out and do more birdwatching this year, I went to a place called Woods Reservoir today.  It's a large reservoir about twenty miles from here that is maintained jointly by the U.S. Air Force (Arnold Air Force Base abuts part of the reserve) and the Tennessee Wildlife Management Agency.  It has a good sized ( Read more... )

As many of you know, I'm an avid birdwatcher.  But few of you probably understand fully just how much of a bird-geek I am.  So by way of illustration, I offer this:  I keep a list of the birds I see each year, in addition of my life list and some other lists I keep, which I won't go into here, lest I jettison what small scraps of dignity I have ( Read more... )

Spent the day, pretty much literally, doing yard work:  Cleaning gutters, raking the yard, etc.  I'm way too exhausted to write a long post, and I fear that I'll be too sore tomorrow to do anything at all ( Read more... )

On July 30, Nancy, the girls, and I hiked the Devils Garden Trail in Arches National Park.  We got up early to avoid some of the heat (at least as much as you can in the Utah desert) and took all of the side trails so that we wouldn't miss a single arch.  It was a terrific hike -- six miles or so through some of the most beautiful country you can ( Read more... )

Thanks to all for the great comments on yesterday's post.  Woke up this morning and found that my newly-minted teenager was very much like the child who lived here yesterday and the day before.  One day at a time.  That's the ticket ( Read more... )

Pretty routine week so far.  Finished a chapter yesterday and started a new one today.  So far this week, I've written about 6000 words on the STILL untitled third book in Blood of the Southlands.  I like the way things are going right now, though I know better than to think it will go this smoothly start to finish.

Instead of going to the gym in ( Read more... )

Yesterday was dance day here in Sewanee.  Both of our daughters, like so many of the young girls here in town, take dance lessons from the university dance instructor and her students.  Yesterday afternoon, they had their recital.  Our girls have both been taking lessons of one sort or another since they were four, so we're old hands at this now.  ( Read more... )